Get Your Game On...

So this kid above you see here qualified along with me in the Tetris tournament that took place at CyberBox LAN Centre. With that under our belt we progress towards the CyberBox All Star weekend where we will compete with the other contestants that qualified for part of a $100,000 prize pool. Not a bad way to spend a Sunday afternoon if I do say so myself. CyberBox LAN Centre hosts a lot of tournament and at varying times to cater to the needs of the many over the weekend. Friday Night Fights are slated as Fighting games night so people tend to come out in support and play Ultra Street Fighter 4 and Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm Revolution. If you think you have the skills to play or just looking for a fun way to spend your Friday night you should definitely come down and check it out.

Then on Saturdays currently CyberBox is running a cross country tour promotion alongside RJR and travel to various parts of Jamaica for a day filled with fun and games for the masses. Typically though Saturdays are when they have Call Of Duty and League of Legends. Check out this short wrap up of what has been happening so far.

Then moving into Sundays is when FIFA and Tetris take center stage. So feel free to come support the venue and play in some games. As 2015 progresses we have some events coming up in the world of gaming that should be marked down in your calendar:

With so many tournaments happening what are you waiting for?

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Everyone Be One Be On Dat Soccer Hype

Welcome to another random Monday blog. Feel like i'm running out of topics I wanna actively talk about on this blog on Mondays so this kind of devolved into a recap or summary type of thing. So the big thing for the last couple weeks and going forwards for now is the 2014 FIFA World Cup. You know this shit is serious when even a country like USA that doesn't really give two shits about Soccer comes out in support of their national team. Personally there is only one team to back which is Argentina but let everyone have their fun in the spirit of competition. Shit is so real even corporate business places are filled with the gasps, sighs, and cheers of workers watching the matches and enjoying the hype in the typical work day. Shit is so intense my department has a betting pool going on for each stage of the tournament. I tried it out for the first section but they upped the stakes from $500 to $1000 so I had to fall back from that cause i'm not about that life. Hopefully your team that you are carrying or bandwagoning with is still currently in the tournament; if not then tough shit better luck next 4 years. Here is the current standings as of typing this blogpost:

Switching gears a bit but still on Soccer news; Digicel is spearheading an e-Sports related event in tandem with the current World Cup fever sweeping the world. I present to you the Digicel FIFA 2014 World DigiCup Ranking Tournament sponsored by Digicel Jamaica; endorsed by Empire Arcadia and organized by Fighter's Allegiance Jamaica. This tournament is Digicel's first venture into the realm of e-Sports and competitive gaming in Jamaica. This tournament will see 32 selected finalists compete in a virtual world cup with each finalist representing one of the 32 teams qualified for this years World Cup competition. The eventual winner of the tournament receives $100,000 and a Samsung Galaxy S5 courtesy of Digicel Jamaica; second place walks away with $50,000 and third place takes home $25,000. Digicel Jamaica is the leader of technology and innovation in the telecommunications field and as such saw it fit to take it upon themselves to be the first major corporation to take the initiative to join the world of e-Sports. Check out this wrap up footage from the event by one of the attendants:

Anywhore i'm going to just leave this here as this is and go test this El Gato capture card I got. All the best and hope to see you come out and support the event on the various tournament dates on July 5th, July 6th, July 12th, July 13th. Stay tuned to our Facebook fan page, Fighter's Allegiance Jamaica and Empire Arcadia for further news concerning the event. Quick side note; I realize my life is getting a bit more hectic and as such I doubt I will be ale to do video game reviews every week so ill be aiming to do one game review every two weeks instead. Thanks for understanding and as always "keep on gaming"...

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Time To Start Catching Up

Guys!!! Girls!!! Animals of the jungle!!! Lend me your ears... I'm back in the booth; haters still lying but your boy is da truth. I am finally getting back to blogging for those that care, it's been nearly a month since I stopped blogging due to a wide variety of activities and time constraints but now that things are simmering down we can get back to basics. Keeping this short and sweet as best as I can; with that been said first up is Mash Di Button 2014.

Mash Di Button

I wont get into too much details in regards to the event since I already covered that in a previous blog. Sad to say I couldn't take first place in the Injustice tournament but instead got third place. This was the main reason I took a break from blogging since I was trying to make as much time as possible for training. Glad to see it paid off and i placed top three. On the bright side though I guess I'm consistent since last year I got third place in the Street Fighter tournament. I would have liked to have video footage and pics to show you but I was also a judge during the competition and forgot my camera so I have no personal footage to share. Thankfully I got the hook up to some pictures so you can enjoy. Click the picture below to open up the Facebook picture album.

Guild Wars 2

Recently a fan/friend bought me a copy of Guild Wars 2 and as with most MMORPG's it took over my life. This is partly why I don't review MMORPG games when I do reviews because they are far too time consuming and easy to get addicted to. In any case I finally hit lvl 80 recently and got most of the gear needed for my character so its with perfect timing now that i can start to ease off the crack pipe called Guild Wars 2 and get back to doing video game reviews. Had fun while it lasted and even streamed it on the twitch channel. You can check that out below...

Watch live video from The_Ghost_Who_Walks on TwitchTV

FIFA 2014 Digicup Gamers Challenge

Since roughly about last year august I have been trying to work on getting Digicel to embrace the realm of E-Sports. Alongside influential entities both local and overseas such as Fighters Allegiance Jamaica and The Empire Arcadia respectively we have started planting seeds. Seeds we hope one day grow into big burly connections so that the realm of E-Sports can be embraced on multiple levels of Jamaican society. It has been a long and arduous road that has had its fair share of growing pains. This however is beginning to form and take root as Digicel finally put together an E-Sports event to run alongside the currently ongoing FIFA World Cup. As things progress we hope this will be a clear cut sign to other entities in Jamaica to take a closer look at the potential and market reach that ventures into E-Sports holds for them. Now that the preliminaries are over the next step is the Finals on the 28th of June; hope to see you all out in full support of what is shaping up to be quite the event.

Well that's basically everything that has happened  thus far. Special thanks to all those who stuck around wanting to see more and all the new likes we got on our Facebook fan page. Glad to see you back here reading again and until next time; keep on gaming.

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eSports Is Here!!! Are You Not Entertained?

Time for another random Monday blog with your friendly neighborhood gamer Zalgo Cometh. Today we will be looking at the ever growing topic of eSports and its somewhat sudden meteoric rise to popularity. So lets drop some knowledge for the masses. Oh before I forget I know a few people have been messaging me asking why I haven't been doing more general topics for the random Monday blog post that more relate to the average person but fear not. I will get back into those in due time just felt a bit burnt out and the mental juices haven't really been flowing but feel free to send me topics you might feel are interesting that I can speak on. Anywhore...

Electronic sports (or eSports) is a term for organized video game competitions, especially between professionals. The most common video game genres associated with electronic sports are real-time strategy, fighting, first-person shooter, and multiplayer online battle arena. Tournaments such as the World Cyber Games, the Evolution Championship Series, and the Intel Extreme Masters provide both live broadcasts of the competition, and cash prizes to competitors.

Although eSports have long been a part of video game culture, competitions have seen a large surge in popularity in recent years. Professional gaming isn't exactly new. Gamers have been making a living off their skills since the late '90s. While competitions before around the year 2000 were largely between amateurs, the proliferation of professional competitions and growing viewership now supports a significant number of professional players and teams, and many video game developers now build features into their games designed to facilitate such competition.

Not only are large organizations like MLG (Major League Gaming) and EVO (Evolution Championship Series) putting on these events in America, but the developers of these eSports titles have begun hosting their own massive tournaments and leagues in the states as well. Riot Games, developer of the massively popular free-to-play MOBA League of Legends, also hosts their own tournament league, LCS (League Championship Series). Riot Games recently made huge strides for eSports as a whole in the U.S., going through a lengthy process to prove that League of Legends is a legitimate sport to the U.S. government. Thanks to the developer, the United States government now recognizes pro LoL players as professional athletes, and will award them visas to work in the U.S. under that title.

Jamaica has an opportunity to enter into this "new" emerging market and get in on the ground floor for a very lucrative and influential market. The potential for growth, mass market appeal and reach is an untapped resource that more companies need to take notice of and utilize. Companies such as LIME and Digicel are potentially the first major companies to start taking notice of the realm of eSports. They have begun to look through the door of opportunity that is before them so now all that is left is for them to boldly step through and invest well to solidify their impact and relevance in the industry as its pioneers. Due to the potential reach and impact of the eSports industry advertising and reaching multiple markets had never been easier especially if one appeals to a specific region such as the Caribbean. The first organization to step up to the plate is a group of long time gamers spearheading a group called the Fighters Allegiance Of Jamaica led by a man called Andrew Johnson. If they can plan, organize and make this a reality just imagine what they could do with corporate backing? Last year was quite the sight to behold and a big success so they have decided to do it again so this year be sure to do your part and support the eSports scene in Jamaica so it can grow and offer a wider range of events and exposure for yet another Jamaican talent pool to rise and showcase the island of wood and water.

So much promise for tourism and exposure is at our fingertips we have but to reach out and grab it. Granted it may be a rough and risky road but we have something to circumvent a lot of the start up issues ventures like this usually face. Whats this you may ask? That would be the support and vested interest of the worlds number one most winning competitive gaming organization the Empire Arcadia. Why you may ask well national pride is a wonderful thing because just as fate would have it the founder and CEO is of Jamaican lineage and would like to establish an eSports foothold here in the Caribbean with Jamaica as the center of it all. Lets build an empire...

Do your part and help support, promote, and endorse the future of eSports in Jamaica. I myself will go and try to get what practice I can so I don't embarrass myself at the tournament; hope to see you there. Mash Di Button 2014 on May 31st at Shop 21 Springs Plaza Half Way Tree. Bring your hype, bring your pride, and bring your support!!!

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